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Shadow Heart
Shadow Heart Shadow Hearts (シャドウハーツ Shadōhātsu?) is a role-playing video game developed by Sacnoth and published by Aruze Corp in Japan and in the United States and Europe by Midway in 2001. It is the first official game in the Shadow Hearts series and is the sequel to Koudelka. Shadow Hearts follows the adventures of Yuri Hyuga, a Harmonixer guided by a mysterious voice in his head. He finds himself thrown into the conflicts prior to World War I where he must save the woman he loves and the world from destruction. Gameplay With a linear storyline, random encounters, turn-based battles, and traditional elements such as hit points and magic points, Shadow Hearts plays similarly to other console RPGs. The Judgment Ring, designed to incorporate an element of chance in various outcomes based on the player's skill, is unique to the genre. There are also side-quests and an option for an additional playthrough (or New Game Plus) with the previous game's data saved to allow for completion of the monster library, to attain further collectible items or equipment, and for a statistical side-by-side comparison of the first playthrough. Environment/world map/submap The player maneuvers a 3D character in the submap, a 2D pre-rendered background representing the environment. Many items are found in the submap, typically in the form of chests, while others are marked with a shining dot. There are also items noticeable only when the player is directly in front of them.1 To change locations in Shadow Hearts, the player can choose from a world map. The world map is a stylized map of Europe and China with locations indicated by dots.2 Battle Shadow Hearts uses a turn-based battle system where the player chooses actions from a menu. The list of actions include many basic commands such as Attack, Items, and Escape.3 Enemies are encountered randomly and are not visible in the submap. Battle commences in a 3D environment modeled after a section of the current location. The characters and enemies stay in their respective positions and only move from their position when executing an attack. The characters are controlled by the player and the enemies are controlled by the CPU. The party is made up of three characters and can be changed, with the exception of Yuri, by speaking with the NPC Meiyuan.4 Characters can be positioned either in the back row or front row. The back row is suited for characters with lower physical defense and attack while the front row is suited for characters with higher physical defense and attack.5 Another aspect of the battle is the character's base statistics. There are the traditional Hit Points (HP) and Magic Points (MP) plus the new Sanity Points (SP). Like many other RPGs, the character's HP will decrease every time they receive damage and their MP decreases when a skill is used. SP decreases every turn and dictate how long a character can last in a battle before they become 'mentally unstable'. When SP decreases to zero, the character automatically goes into a state of Berserk and the player will lose control of that character. At the end of every battle all the character’s SP is replenished. Each character gains HP, MP, and SP every time they gain a level and there are many items which help restore lost HP, MP, and SP. There are also items which alleviate status ailments as well as revival items.6 Judgment Ring The Judgment Ring is a unique element in Shadow Hearts and is used in many aspects of the game including battles, minigames, and even shopping. The success of the characters actions is dependent on the outcome of the Judgment Ring. Essentially, the Judgment Ring is a circle with different colored segments and a rotating needle which is stopped by the player's input. When an action is chosen, the Judgment Ring is presented on the screen. Players then have to watch the rotating needle carefully as it rotates and hit the colored segments.